


ice ice baby

by kontent



Series: Cairo Day 2019 [4]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cairo Day 2019, Cairo Day 2019 Day 5, Episode Related, Episode: s02e10 War Room + Ship, Gen, Mentions of Drowning, The Author Regrets Nothing, episode rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 08:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kontent/pseuds/kontent
Summary: The water pouring in is icy. It’s no surprise, really, since he’s in the Arctic, but it’s still terribly cold. Mac knows he should move, but the coldness is already seeping in his bones. And what’s the point anyway?He is going to die in this room.





	ice ice baby

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of the Cairo Day 2019 celebrations. The prompt is _Close Call(s)_.
> 
> The title - I couldn't resist. I'm sorry.

The water pouring in is icy. It’s no surprise really since he’s in the Arctic, but it’s still terribly cold.

Mac knows he should move, but the coldness is already seeping in his bones. And what’s the point anyway?

He is going to die in this room. He will drown eventually, his lungs filling with water. It’s funny, he thinks - people would assume he’d go hypothermic, dying from the cold.

Mac knows he won’t live long enough to become hypothermic - he’s going to die from the water filling his lungs because his body will try to protect his core temperature. His muscles will give out, he will sink underwater - and then it’s just waiting until he’s lost all oxygen, until there’s only nitrogen and carbon dioxide in his lungs. He will breathe out - and when he breathes back in, the water will flood his lungs. Fighting will just speed up the process - the more energy he saves, the longer he’ll hold out.

He almost laughs. It’s pointless to guess how long he’ll hold out - there is no-one coming to save him. It’s just him here, surrounded by a seemingly endless expanse of water.

He almost forgets Jack is still on the video call with him. “Mac. Mac. Dude!”

He snaps to attention - which might be a strong word for raising his head to look at the display. “Yes?”

Jack looks angry, but Mac knows it’s pain that’s colouring his features. “You are not going to die today! Get moving! Figure something out!”

Mac doesn’t laugh, but he feels his mouth quirk up in a terrible smile. “Jack, there’s nothing here. The water will continue pouring in, filling this room up. Even if the coldness won’t paralyze me at some point, the lack of oxygen will surely do the job.”

Jack looks like he wants to smack him and hug him at the same time. “No! Use that big ol’ brain of yours!”

When Mac only sighs, Jack barrels on. “Dude, how many times have we been there? How many times did we end up in a situation where we should have died?”

A hundred times. Probably more. They have faced death so often, it’s almost like meeting an old friend now. Maybe that’s why Mac is feeling so calm.

“But that’s not us. We don’t die like this, okay? We face death and punch him right in the face, okay? We don’t wait for death to catch up, man!”

Mac smiles, and this time it almost feels real. “It’s okay, Jack.”

The raw pain on Jack’s face makes his heart hurt, but he’s inside a ship surrounded by the ocean. The door behind him is locked, and there is no way out of this room.

“Bullshit! If there’s a way in, there’s always a way out. You told me that, dude. Now get your ass up and figure it out!”

Mac blinks. Jack is pacing in the war room, clearly mad he can’t do anything. Mac really doesn’t want to be there when Jack will fight Matty about this.

But. _If there’s a way in, there’s always a way out_. Mac’s eyes slide off Jack’s face towards the crack in the wall, where the icy water pours in.

“A way in,” Mac mutters, scanning the door. He’s taking note of how it’s composed and what kind of force one would need to force the crack open - only wide enough for a human to slip through.

Jack still seems to be talking, but Mac isn’t listening right now. Mac drags himself to his feet, his clothes wet and disgusting and cold. He starts pulling at them, getting rid of them.

When Jack catches on, Mac is already unbuckling his belt, forcing his pants to unstick themselves from his skin.

“What the fuck are you doing, man? Has the water fried your wires? Has finally something managed to screw with that brain of yours?”

Mac laughs. “The clothes are going to drag me down. Without them, I got a better chance of surviving.”

Jack’s eyes light up like fireworks, the fear and anger and pain vanishing. He believes in Mac - unconditionally, so much that sometimes it scares Mac more than death. “Good! Keep doing what you’re doing then! What are you doing, actually?”

Mac chuckles and throws the clothes in a pile. He might need those later.

“I’m going to break that wall open.”

Jack follows his hand. “That wall? The already broken wall? The wall you came to fix? Dude, I think something is wrong with your brain, why would you do something like that? The water will come pouring in!”

Mac’s already going through all of his supplies, so he calls back his answer.

“Yeah, that’s the not-good part. But if I can open it up wide enough to let me fit through, I can wait till the water pours in and then swim out.” Only that in the icy water, it will take fifteen minutes at max until his body starts giving up. He can survive thirty minutes in the water, at max. But in here, he’s going to die for sure - he’ll take the chance.

“If there’s a way in, there’s always a way out, right?”


End file.
